Decisions at our AGM

The following are the decisions made at our Annual General Meeting. Since the minutes I took are rather illegible, and my memory is known to be fallible, please notify me if you spot any errors or omissions. There were 16 members in attendance and one apology for absence.

The annual membership fee remains at £5, and the cost of attending a meeting will be £2 (this is to cover the cost of the room which is currently £30 for two hours but may go up next year). The start-time of meetings will be 7 pm instead of 6:30 pm in future.

The Chair, Stephen Milton, and Secretary, George Jelliss, were reelected. Lesley Arnold-Hopkins stood down as Treasurer but becomes Deputy Chair. Duncan Cleverly becomes Treasurer as well as Social Secretary. Helene White remains formally Assistant Treasurer.

Lesley and Duncan will open a twitter account (@HastingsHumanists). Helen Mitcham will act as a Group Representative at GRAM. The decision whether the group should be an Affiliate or Partner of the BHA was postponed, and Felicity Harvest agreed to examine the BHA proposals in more detail and report back to the committee. We will continus to send Humanist Observers to the East Sussex SACRE, and lobby for more formal recognition.

So far only two meetings are definite for next year: January will feature a formal Debate between Joe Fearn and Stephen Milton on "Is a Disembodied Mind Possible?". June will be a talk from Barbara Burfoot about the Sea of Faith organisation. Enquiries for other outside speakers are in progress. Offers of talks from members (Joe Fearn on the Anthropic Principle, George Jelliss on Rewriting of History, and on Scepticism) are so far available to fit in the programme as needed.

Agenda for Our 2011 AGM

Hastings Humanists, Annual General Meeting

6:30 pm, Thursday 10 November, Notley Room, White Rock Hotel

1. Reports by the Society's Officers, including Secretary and Treasurer, on
the year's events and progress.

2. Discussion on the present organisation of the group (e.g. do we need to
appoint more people to specific tasks). Election of Officers. The current
Treasurer has expressed the intention to stand down. (To vote you must have
paid the £5 annual membership fee.) The fee structure is also up for
discussion. Should we make meetings free, with just optional donations?
Should we keep the £5 annual membership structure?

3. Debate on our relationship with the BHA (and NSS): Affiliation,
Partnership or Independence? This is in response to the BHA's proposals for
new terms and fees. The issue of donations to support the BHA and the
encouragement of BHA direct membership has also been proposed for
discussion.

4. Involvement with East Sussex SACRE: should we continue to have an
observer, and lobby to have a member on one of the subcomittees?

5. Expansion of activities. Suggestions have been made that we open a
Hastings Humanists twitter account, and support Non-Prophet Week. Are there
local issues we should be campaigning about? e.g. Council prayers. Assisting
formation of a Local AHS student group.

6. Programme for next year. Any ideas for subjects we should deal with, or
speakers we might attract, or days out?

Sorry if this Agenda is a bit sketchy. We are a rather informal group. There
will be opportunities for other issues to be raised if there is time.

Sunday Meetings at a New Venue?

A questionnaire has been sent out to those supporters who have attended at least two meetings over the past year (23 in all) to ask if a switch to Sunday meetings would be acceptable or present problems, and if acceptable whether an afternoon or evening meeting would be preferred. The proposed new venue is the Reading Room at 12 Claremont, next to the Public Library (though a firm booking has not yet been made).

I'm also mulling over plans for a wider "Ideas Forum" which would promote meetings of a "Science Cafe" or "Skeptics in the Pub" or "Literary and Philosophical Society" type which could be held at the same venue. This would be of a completely open nature, not attempting to promote "Humanism" as a formulaic world-view but simply providing a forum for rational debate.

It may be noticed that the line about being "Affiliated to the BHA" has been removed from our blog heading. This is because it may not strictly be correct. We do not yet pay a fee to the BHA, although a number of our supporters are direct members, and we are listed on their website as a local Group.

Humanist Groups and the BHA

The British Humanist Association is starting a consultation with its local groups concerning whether the relations it has with them should be more formalised. Andrew Copson says in his introduction to a document called "Working Better Together" that the BHA Board of Trustees has produced "updated aims for the BHA that cannot be pursued without a local element". However, having read the strategy and aims, I can't really see anything that changes the situation much.

The main motivation for considering changes appears to lie in "Additional Factors". These are: (a) The coalition government's "localising" policies, that may require more local campaigning, e.g. against faith schools (fortunately not so far a problem in the Hastings area). (b) Growth in BHA membership, resulting for example from the Atheist Bus campaign, and lack of involvement of these members in local groups. (c) Competition from "other players in the field" such as Skeptics in the Pub and Brights Meet-ups, and perhaps the formation of some NSS local groups (though mention of the NSS is studiously avoided in the document).

In my experience the Skeptics and Brights or the NSS are not competition; their active players are also often members of Humanist groups. They just have a different emphasis on particular aspects of Humanism. Personally I would not want to become merely a sort of "Branch Manager" for the BHA, even if it was a salaried position. In fact I would like to be allowed to organise Sceptics in the Pub or Science Cafe style meetings as part of our Humanist activities; thus promoting critical thinking and scientific knowledge, both of which are positive aspects of Humanism, rather than being confined to countering religious bigotry.

A way that the BHA might promote Humanism locally could be by sponsoring local meeting places. One way this might be done would be by a national agreement between the BHA and the Quakers or the Unitarians for example, or even perhaps with Colleges or Libraries, to make rooms available at reasonable prices, with facilities for seating, screen projection and refreshments. The existence of such meeting rooms could well stimulate the opening of new local groups.

BHA AGM

On Saturday I went to the BHA AGM held in Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London. This was the first time I've attended the AGM and it was somewhat more interesting than I thought it might be. There were three forums held in the morning, but I missed these since I had other business to attend to. The photo was taken just before the meeting started. The wording above the stage reads "To Thine Own Self Be True" which is a translation from the Greek motto at the Delphic Oracle. What exactly it means is of course open to interpretation, like anything oracular.

The meeting began with a performance by the BHA choir. Somewhat controversially, but apparently at the request of Andrew Copson, they sang "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. That was good. However their rendition of "Somer is icomen in" this time seemed to be a conflict betwen the choir and the pianist, but perhaps I was sitting in the wrong place.

After the reports by Robert Ashby the chairman, Andrew Copson the chief executive and the presentation of the accounts by the Treasurer, the most interesting part of the actual AGM was the election of the Trustees, and the debate that accompanied it. The problem is that you have to vote for people that you may not have met and may know nothing about except what they have written in their address.

The meeting ended with a talk about Education from A. C. Grayling, covering everything from ancient Sparta to the less successful efforts of Russell, Wittgenstein and Popper. I wondered if he is planning to set up some school himself, but no-one asked that question. Why shouldn't Humanists set up Academies if the funding can be found? Otherwise we are simply ceding the ground to the churches.

Philosophy

On Saturday (26 June) I went to the BHA one-day conference at Conway Hall on "Humanism, Philosophy and the Arts". The performance by the BHA Choir was probably the most entertaining part, particularly their rendition of "Sumer is icumen in", though their attempt to emulate the Swingle Singers with "Sleepytime Bach" was not a success.

The other highlight of the day was Martin Rowson's run through a selection of his cartoons. I'm not really a fan of his drawings, particularly those of the grossly anatomical type, but his latest take on the coalition government, with Clegg as Pinocchio and Cameron as Little Lord Fauntleroy are more gently amusing, though I suspect that after the honeymoon period they will become more trenchant.

Ken Worpole's talk on Humanism and Architecture was a subject completely new to me, so I don't feel qualified to comment. The other talks were on philosophy. As usual I could find little to disagree with in Richard Norman's account of Art in relation to Meaning in Life, though also little to stimulate new thought. Julian Baggini spoke on ethics as illustrated in films, particularly those of the Coen brothers, but can't agree with his idea that "good" people are those who are not a "pain in the arse". My view is that most people who ever got any good reform going were always a nuisance to the powers that be. Nigel Warburton spoke about modern conceptual art, and included as an illustration what appeared to be a photograph of a kitchen, but was in fact a photograph of a paper model of the same kitchen! He maintains that you cannot appreciate art fully without knowing the artist's intentions.

After the conference I bought Nigel Warburton's book "Philosophy: The Basics". What strikes me about this after a first read-through is that many of the subjects and arguments are so old-hat, and take such little account of modern advances in science. It's as if philosophers are living in a time-warp. I'd like to have a go at writing my own account. I've been gathering notes for some years and have a good title, but getting down to organising it into some coherent pattern is another matter.

Report on our May Meeting

Thanks to Bob Churchill of the British Humanist Association for coming to talk to us last night (Thursday 13 May). There were 15 people in attendance, including four new faces. Bob began with an account of the philosophical basis of humanism which led to some interesting exchanges. There still seems to be lacking some simple sound-bite style statement of Humanist belief other than "for the one life we have". Bob gave some account of the history of the BHA, which goes back to the late 19th century Ethical movements, and its association with the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He also spoke about his own role at the BHA and of the current range of campaigns and policies. Regarding local humanist groups he noted that some were getting together to arrange larger events that might attract people from a wide area. However our nearest groups are those in Canterbury and Brighton, and transport communications between us are not easy. Probably any joint meeting would have to be held in London, which the BHA already caters for. This year's one day conference at Conway Hall will be on 26 June 2010 and is devoted to "Humanism, Philosophy and the Arts".

Sex Education in Faith-biased Schools

The British Humanist Association is urging its members to write to their MPs, using the BHA email system urging them to oppose an amendment to the Children, Schools and Families Bill, when it is debated next Tuesday (23rd February).

The bill as originally worded was designed to ensure all young people have access to accurate, balanced, Sex and Relationships Education that promotes equality and diversity, and to prevent faith schools from teaching that same sex relationships and the use of contraception are wrong.

The BHA, the Children's Rights Alliance for England and the Accord Coalition have condemned the new Government amendment, describing it as discriminatory.

The amendment to the Bill, tabled by the Secretary of State Ed Balls, would permit state-funded “faith schools” to teach "PSHE", which includes Sex and Relationships Education, “in a way that reflects the school’s religious character”.

However Ed Balls has claimed that this is “nonsense”, and that the impact of the new amendment is simply to allow faith schools to represent the religion of the school as one view among others, while still being required to deliver the full curriculum in a way that is accurate, balanced, and promotes equality.

The BHA and numerous other organisations dispute this interpretation.

Publicity in the Local Press

Publicity for our February meeting appeared in Hastings Observer on Friday 29 January page 15 under the headline "Science expert to talk to humanists". Most of the press release I sent was included (see earlier entry).

A few days ago I recevived a phone call from a reporter on the Hastings Observer asking for a Humanist opinion on the Pope's statement relating to the Equality Bill. Part of my reply has been published in an article in this Friday's issue page 3 as follows: George Jellis (sic) of the Hastings Humanists said: "Obviously we do not think very much of the Pope's comments." and "Lots of churchmen seem to think it is ok to discriminate against people on the basis of what we see as bigotry."

The BHA has condemned what they see as "the Pope's attack on equality". What he actually said was not so explicit: he claimed the bill was contrary to "natural law" (whatever that means) and would "impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs", but the implications are clear.

I also pointed out that the National Secular Society has launched a petition for the Vatican to pay for the Pope's visit, which is estimated to cost tax-payers £20 million.

Humanist Life

Time to come out from my seasonal hibernation to see if it is safe for Humanists to venture out without fear of being bombarded by carol-singing proselytisers of the Jesus Nativity cult.

There is a new website apparently launched by the BHA but in some way independent of them. It is called trendily HumanistLife without a break between the words. Unfortunately the first three articles are all dictated by the religious agenda, since they are about Humanists' attitudes to Christ-mas.

The statement in the top right corner reads: "Humanists make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values. We take responsibility and inspiration not from the supernatural and divine, but from what is real and from each other." But why is it necessary to mention "the supernatural and divine" at all, as if they have any real existence? We don't think much of astrology or magic or postmodernism either, so why mention them!

In the left=hand column I noticed that Stephen Law is writing a book on History of Humanism. A work of this nature is needed, as existing works that I have seen are poor. I hope it will be comprehensive and cover such related developments as Freethought, Secularism, Positivism and so on. I've posted a comment to that effect.

This could develop into a good resource for Humanists. It is asking for people to submit content, but I couldn't see any indication about who is editing the content. Presumably BHA staff who may already be overloaded.

Andrew Copson is new BHA CEO

Congratulations and a big welcome to Andrew Copson who has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the British Humanist Association in succession to Hanne Stinson. He takes up the position in January. I'm sure he has the goodwill of all members in view of the excellent job he has done in the role of Education and Public Affairs coordinator, since joining the BHA Staff in 2005. He is a very articulate speaker and also cheerful with it, and I'm sure also a competent organiser, although to an old fogey like me he still looks far too young! Let's hope the strain of keeping all us headstrong cats in order will not age him prematurely, and that this appointment will mark a new stage in the public awareness of Humanism.